The OSCE Criticized the Ukrainian Law on the State Language

The OSCE department that deals with the issue of language policy, together with the Ministry of culture of Ukraine, is working to eliminate a number of distortions in the Ukrainian law on the state language, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Lamberto Zannier said in an interview with Izvestia. According to him, the recently adopted law “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” was adopted without any consultation with minority representatives. In addition, according to him, all questions about the use of the state language in Ukraine are solved quite harshly through punishment, the OSCE considers it reasonable to create a mechanism of systematic interaction that would allow to take into account concerns of national minorities. Zannier also said that the current language policy in Ukraine violates the rights of national minorities and introduces elements of discrimination. On July 16 the law which fixed Ukrainian as the only state language came into force in Ukraine. So, now all the authorities and public organizations are obliged to use only the Ukrainian language. The law does not apply to the sphere of private communication and religious rites.